WWE: Steve Austin Doesn't Think John Cena Should Ever Turn Heel

There are a lot of great wrestling podcasts out there these days. Not only that, but you can find several of them at the same place as part of Podcast One. The great Steve Austin was the first one to get a Podcast One show, which turned out to be a great idea because he's a natural at it. From there, Chris Jericho got a show. Then Jim Ross got one. Then WWE started doing one too. What it means for us wrestling fans is we can get a lot of great insight into the business we love from the people that we watched on our TV screens all our lives. Recently, Steve Austin was a guest on the Jim Ross podcast (they talked for over two hours) and they covered a lot of different topics including some things related to happenings currently in WWE. During Austin's discussion with Ross, the topic came up regarding a heel turn for perennial babyface John Cena. Austin said matter of factly: "No, there's no money in turning John Cena heel." Austin went on to talk about how Cena is the face of the company and has been for nearly ten years now. He spoke about Cena's popularity as the most active US athlete on Facebook, he has a great thing going as the top guy granting Make A Wish wishes and obviously kids really love him. I thought Austin made a great point in saying that just because the fans are booing him doesn't mean they always will because the audience is really just messing him. If he went heel, those same fans booing him may start cheering him because if Cena was acting like a heel that's something those fans may love. Another great point that Austin made was related to his own heel turn at WrestleMania 17 when he was the top babyface in WWE. He said that it was his idea, that it was a mistake and if he could do it again he wouldn't do it that way. They tried so hard with Austin doing everything to get heat (remember when he bloodied Jim Ross?), but the fans weren't fully behind it. The other piece of insight he offered was that he took a big hit in merchandise numbers as well as the company hurting in PPV buyrates as well. For all the fans that think Cena should go heel or that he will go heel, I don't think it's likely. WWE likely has similar thoughts about it that Austin does. These people know the business and what works. Cena still has a lot of value as a babyface both as a merchandise seller and as a guy that younger heels can face on the way up to the top just like Bray Wyatt. If you want to see heel Cena, best thing you can do is check out some clips from early 2003 because it's not going to happen again.